Did either of you ever see that episode of TNG where they discover something like 30 alien races were seeded on different planets by one ancient race? I think it was a lame excuse for all the uncreative alien make-up.

Bill-Ha! I need to find this issue just to see all the other aliens...

I've never seen the episode, but I remember reading about it. Actually, I think it was mentioned in a list of sci-fi stories that got evolution totally wrong. Seeded or not, evolution is supposed to be based on environmental factors. Then again, since most of the Trek planets have climates hospitable to humans, maybe it makes sense that the inhabitants would have developed in similar ways.

There's actually a pretty funny bit about aliens all looking like people in costumes in a book I recently finished, Robert Rankin's Armageddon: The Musical:

"The erect biped, head at the top, feet at the bottom, wedding tackle about halfway up, represents the universal archetype, when it comes to the 'intelligent' being. This fact has long been known to science-fiction afficionados and UFO contactees. Alien beings, from no matter which part of the galaxy they might hail, inevitably bear a striking resemblance to man. There are the occasional variations in height and cranial dimensions, but for the most part our cosmic cousins are pretty reasonable facsimiles of ourselves. Many even speak good English, often with a pronounced American accent. Such facts can hardly be argued with."